ISLAMABAD: Terming the government’s Billion Tree Tsunami campaign a successful endeavour, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Sunday it had led to increase the forest cover of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by four per cent while contributing to the fight against climate change.

“From nurseries to full forest areas, the success of Billion Tree Tsunami has been unprecedented with public & pvt involvement,” the prime minister said in a tweet.

He said that the success of the campaign gave the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government at the centre confidence to replicate the drive across the country with a target of planting 10bn trees.

The prime minister also shared four images, including his selfie with some grown trees in the backdrop. Other images showed a dense green forest, schoolchildren holding saplings for plantation and some students cheering and jumping.

Prime Minister Khan had launched the countrywide tree plantation drive in Sept 2018 inviting everyone to participate in the campaign to counter the twin threats of climate change and pollution.

Initially the campaign was started at 200 locations and the prime minister hoped that it would be spread throughout the country in the next five years.

The prime minister had said that growing trees was not the job of the government or one person but of the whole nation. “If we don’t start planting trees now, the whole country can become a desert,” he had warned while emphasising the need to tackle pollution and smog through this plantation.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2019